Dry & Brittle Hair after Using Isotretinoin

Dry hair after Isotretinoin

I’ve selected this question below for this week’s question of the week. It allows us to review some of the reasons for post isotretinoin scalp dryness.

Answer

My  hair is  so  brittle  after stopping  isotretinoin. It’s also quite dry.  What  might  be  the  cause?  Was it the drug?

Answer

Thanks for the question.

It's possible, but there  are many  causes actually.  One  needs  to  ideally have a  proper scalp  examination  and have the story reviewed from start to  finish.  (By ‘start’  I  mean not just  the start of last month  up  until  today but a full history from birth). One  needs  to  consider  many things.  

Isotretinoin can cause dryness that takes a while to settle after stopping. In many patients it does but one might need to be a bit gentler on t he hair for 3-6 months than they might have otherwise. I like my patients to reduce chemical and fragrance and potential irritants that can worsen they way the scalp feels. sometimes we switch away from a sulphate containing shampoo for a few months to allow the scalp to return back to normal.

Other causes of scalp dryness and brittleness need to be ruled out. If they are ruled out, I often consider a corticosteroid oil for my own patients along with the sulphate free shampoo. For my patients, the steroid oil is used once or twice weekly for 2-3 weeks before going down to once every two weeks for 2-3 months. Periodic use of an oil like coconut oil can also help provided there is not a lot of seborrheic dermatitis that is also on the scalp. I don’t know if that’s appropriate for you because I don’t know your story but that is something you can speak to your dermatologist about if everything else is completely ruled out.

The main issue is to be incredibly gentle on the hair and scalp for 3-6 months.

But what other conditions need to be considered ?

1) Seborrheic Dermatitis

One needs  to consider  seborrheic dermatitis that has  now  flared after stopping Accutane.   For  some people,  Accutane  treats some coexisting seborrheic dermatitis without  the  patient even knowing  and  then the  condition  flares when stopping.  

2) Hair styling Issues

One  needs  to consider  the  possibility that  overprocessing, coloring and/or heating of hair  is leading to  the  increased dryness. In  other  words, how  has  one’s  hair styling  practices  changed recently?  

3) Shampoo and Conditioner Issues

 One  also needs to consider  irritation from shampoos and conditioners and other topical products.   Has  a shampoo  or  conditioner or styling product changed?  

4) Autoimmune and inflammatory Issues

Of  course, with dryness one  needs  to  consider  inflammatory  scalp  issues  including autoimmune  issues,  psoriasis  and scarring alopecias  that have activated  or even  flared  post  stopping  Accutane. Fortunately,  they are rare  in  a situation like this.  But a dermatologist  can properly evaluate.  

5) Hormonal and Metabolic Issues

Finally, once needs to  consider  a variety  of metabolic and/or hormonal  issues  including those related to thyroid hormones,  estrogen  hormones or  androgen  hormones.  These  can  affect dryness  in  a  dramatic way.   Other  inflammatory scalp conditions  are  possible and  can be ruled  out  following proper examination.   

Increased Shedding: Should I start treatment for Male Pattern Balding?

Does increased shedding indicate that a male should start finasteride?

I’ve selected this question below for this week’s question of the week. It allows us to the review the diagnosis and work up of increased hair shedding in males.

QUESTION

I am a male, 30 years old who has been monitoring his hair for quite some time as I don't want to lose my hair to androgenetic alopecia (AGA). I have been counting the hairs that I shed in the shower since around 2016. Since I have usually midlength to long curly hair I stretch out the days I wash my hair, otherwise it gets dry. I have always shed around 210/220 hairs when showering every third day. This has increased to 280 since a few weeks now.

Since I said every third day this means the average on a day was: 210/3=70 . Now it has become 280/3=93 a day, for the last month or so. I know that 100 hairs a day is normal, but considering that the number I was shedding was consistently around 70 for years I am a little worried. The majority of the shed hairs look healthy and thick and long. My hairline, crown and density are still the same. Could this be temporary and could the shedding go down within the next few months?

When should I start finasteride? As soon as I see recession / lessening in density / thinning?

In short, is a little increase in shedding a reason to go on treatment?

ANSWER

Thanks for submitting this question.

I’d like to discuss several important things in the question you ask and the information you have submitted.

Before we do go further, I’d like to point out that the ideal way to diagnose hair loss is using what I termed the ”Diagnostic S.E.T.” I refer to these as the diagnostic “set” because theses 3 aspects all go together. These 3 items include:

1) the patient’s story

2) the findings uncovered during the process of the scalp examination including trichoscopy

3) the results of relevant blood tests. 

The first letter of each of the three words 1) story, 2) examination and 3) tests spell out the word “S.E.T.” - again a helpful reminder of how the information obtained from reviewing each of these 3 aspects helps solidify a proper diagnosis. I don’t have a full story in your case and I don’t have photos (or a chance to examine the scalp) and I don’t have the opportunity to review any tests …. so I am limited to some degree in my helpfulness. Nevertheless, I do think the discussion here will be helpful.

The main phenomenon you are describing is increase shedding. You have gone from 70 hairs per day of shedding to 93 hairs per day . Although both are considered within the realm of normal, I would agree that in your case this likely represents a true increase in shedding. This does not necessarily mean that this will be long term shedding or that it will actually translate into a loss of hair density or thickness. There are some unknowns here.

There are 3 potential considerations for why you are shedding more hair in the last month:

a) a telogen effluvium has occurred

b) the initiation of androgenetic hair loss has taken place

c) an autoimmune mimicker of telogen effluvium is present rather than telogen effluvium

d) combination of the above

Let’s take a look at these in more detail.

a) Is this a true telogen effluvium and if so what is the cause?

It’s quite possible that you are having a minor telogen effluvium. Hair shedding does not need to be over 100 hairs per day to have a telogen effluvium - it just needs to be more than one’s original shedding rates. If a person shed 38 hairs per day before and now sheds 68 - it’s abnormal. In your case, your shedding from 70 to 93 is abnormal. Of course, there is a big difference between something being abnormal and something being serious. Your hair shedding may not be serious and might only be temporary. We’ll get to that in moment. But this shedding suggests a potential diagnosis of telogen effluvium. As we’ve reviewed in the list above, a diagnosis of telogen effluvium is not the only cause of shedding. So it would be a mistake to assume otherwise.

A variety of ‘triggers’ are responsible for telogen effluvium. These triggers include stress, low ferritin levels, thyroid problems, medications, weight loss, seborrheic dermatitis, scalp psoriasis, immunizations, infections and internal illness inside the body.

You and your doctors really need to go through each of these potential triggers step by step very carefully to see if anything fits with your story. If your shedding started at the beginning of April, then you’ll want to go back to January or February (2-3 months prior) and ask yourself if something changed in your life. If this is a telogen effluvium, that’s probably when the body felt some sort of a trigger.

So, you and your doctors will want to evaluate that answers to the following

1) Did you experience higher stress levels in January or February?

Stress in January can trigger shedding 8-12 weeks later.

2) Did levels of any of your key blood test parameters change in January or February?

Clearly, blood tests are going to be needed if you really want to get to the bottom of why you are shedding more. There are over 75 blood test abnormalities that can trigger shedding. Fortunately, most of those 75 are rare and we don’t go about even ordering them. The ones we mainly check are iron (ferritin levels) and thyroid (TSH test) along with basic hemoglobin level and 25 hydroxy vitamin D level. However, your doctor will need to review your story from start to finish and examine your scalp and ideally perform aa physical examination too. If there’s anything that crops up as a concern, more blood tests besides just ferritin and TSH might be needed. For example, patient who has lost 25 pounds in 2 months and has no idea why they are losing so much weight is likely going to need an extensive work up.

3) Did you start any new medication or vitamin or supplement in January or February?

Starting medications can sometimes be a trigger - and the same is true for some supplements, herbal medications, teas, and vitamins. This all needed to be reviewed.

4) Did you stop any sort of medication or vitamin in January or February?

Stopping medications can sometimes be a trigger - and the same is true for some supplements, herbs, teas, vitamins. This all needed to be reviewed. In addition to stopping medications. sometimes even changing brands can be an issue. For some people, a change in drug A from brand name to generic is enough to trigger a shed. You can see that we’re going to need aa pretty detailed understanding of what’s been happening in your life to determine why you area shedding.

5) Did you receive any sort of immunization in January or February?

Immunizations are not common causes of shedding but that does not mean they are not on the list. Immunizations of all kinds have a slight chance to trigger some temporary shedding. COVID vaccination rarely does too. I don’t know if you received a vaccine or not, but your doctors will need to review this carefully. If you were vaccinated in January or February, it most certainly could give a shed now. Fortunately, it’s pretty rare - but we’ve seen it.

6) Did you get any kind of infection in January or February?

Infections of any kind can trigger shedding. Granted, severe infections associated with someone being quite ill are more likely overall to trigger shedding than less severe infections. But even minor infections can trigger shedding. Tooth infections, flus, COVID 19, all can trigger shedding. Many patients who have been infected with COVID 19 do not even know they had COVID 19 but some still get shedding. In fact, about 10 % of patents with hair shedding due to COVID 19 didn’t really have any COVID 19 symptoms. You and your doctors are going to want to evaluate that carefully and whether there is any possibility of an asymptomatic COVID 19 infection happened in January or February. Antibody tests can help address this question in some patients.

Other infections may also be relevant to ask about. Again, over 300 infections can cause shedding but most of the time, none are all that relevant for the patent in front of the doctor. But a variety of bacterial, viral, protozoal infections can cause shedding. In some of my patients from outside of North America, Dengue fever (spread by dense virus) is a common cause of shedding. There are estimated to be 390 million Dengue viral infections every year in the world. Sometimes we test for infections like HIV and syphilis in patients with risk factor who have chronic shedding. So depending on your story, more broad testing could be needed. For most people, we don’t need much in the way to these sorts of tests.

7) Did you develop any kind of illness inside my body in January or February?

Any illnesses inside the body can trigger shedding. Most often these are illnesses that a significant impact on the body. For example, an illness that causes diarrhea or a bad cough or an intensively sore joint that affects the motion in the joint all have the potential to cause shedding.

8) Did you have any kind of surgery or procedure in January or February?

Any proper evaluation for shedding examines whether or not the patient had any type of surgery or hospitalization in the months leading up to the shedding. Medications used in surgery, blood loss during surgery are well known triggers of telogen effluvium.

In summary, you can see that if you want to get to the bottom of what is happening with your hair, you are going to need a proper history and examination and you are going to need blood tests. Whether you get blood tests now or simply wait a month or two if things don’t improve is a clinical decision that is left to you and your doctors. But the only way right now to be sure that an abnormality in some blood test is not the reason why your shedding went from 70 to 93 is to order these blood tests.

Three Important Patterns of Telogen Effluvium

Before we leave the concept of telogen effluvium, it’s important to mention a few more points regarding the patterns of shedding that you might see. There are a few scenarios that might happen. If the diagnosis of your hair shedding is telogen effluvium and there is some well defined trigger that happened to you in January or February and then went away you will have some shedding in April through July but then the months of August September and October will be associated with less shedding and things should return to normal by November or December (assuming you don’t have genetic hair loss). If you do have genetic hair loss, that’s a bit of a different story as patients who are en route to slowly developing genetic hair loss may not find there shedding goes back completely to normal once the trigger of the telogen effluvium is fixed. We say in this case that the TE precipitated or unmasked an androgenetic hair loss.

Let’s take a look at scenario 2 now. If the diagnosis of your hair shedding is telogen effluvium and there is some well defined trigger that happened to you in January or February but is not going to end up being fixed until July then you will have a bit more prolonged shedding. This could be a scenario whereby an individual went on a diet from January to July or had intense stress from January to July or developed a thyroid problem in January and could not get into the doctor until July to get it fixed. If scenario 2 applies in your case, you will not slow your shedding quite as quickly. You will have some shedding in April through July but then the months of August September and October will be associated with less shedding and things should return to normal by November or December (assuming you don’t have genetic hair loss). If you do have genetic hair loss, that’s a bit of a different story as patients who are en route to slowly developing genetic hair loss may not find there shedding goes back completely to normal once the trigger of the telogen effluvium is fixed.

Let’s take a look at scenario 3 now. If the diagnosis of your hair shedding is telogen effluvium and there is some well defined trigger that happened to you in January or February but it simply goes unfixed then you will have a prolonged shedding and it’s not going to stop. This could be a scenario whereby an individual developed a chronic illness like inflammatory bowel disease in January and does not get connected with the right treatment because either the diagnosis has not yet been even uncovered or the medications are not working. Another example would be a patient who experience high stress starting January because they are caring for a terminal ill member of the family and the stress just continued to run high. Another example is patient who develops an unknown chronic illness in January but just can’t get the right diagnosis and shedding just goes on and on because the issue is not addressed.

If scenario 3 applies in your case, you will not slow your shedding at all until the problem is fixed. You will have some increased shedding starting in April but then it will persist. Only when the trigger actually gets fixed will you shedding resolve.

b) Is this the start of androgenetic hair loss?

You are very wise to consider the possibility that your increased shedding is actually a reflection of androgenetic alopecia arriving on the scene. Very wise. More hair specialists and patients need to get into the frame of mind that hair shedding means potentially so much more than simply a diagnosis of telogen effluvium. What’s the most likely cause of chronically increased shedding in a healthy 30 year old male with normal blood tests? Androgenetic alopecia is the answer.

Now, are you a 30 year old male with chronically increased hair shedding and normal blood tests? No, you are not. You are a 30 year old male with acutely increased shedding (just a few weeks so far) and I have no idea what your blood tests show.

So you could have the early stages of endogenetic alopecia and this diagnosis becomes more and more likely if your shedding does not reduce as time goes on and more and more likely if all your blood tests come back normal.

Is now the right time to start finasteride?

You have asked a great question - is now the right time to start finasteride? In my opinion, a male should only every consider finasteride if five conditions are met. Interested readers can read more about these in a previous article that I wrote last year.

Criteria 1: The individual has a proven (confirmed) diagnosis androgenetic alopecia

Criteria 2: The individual does not have any contraindications to finasteride

Criteria 3: The individual accepts the potential side effect profile of this drug

Criteria 4: The individual has considered the other treatment options but feels they are not better than finasteride as a starting point (topical minoxidil, oral minoxidil, laser, PRP)

Criteria 5: The individual plans to use the medication lifelong.

A little bit of shedding that is due to AGA is certainly a reason to consider starting treatment but it does not necessarily mean it has to be with oral finasteride. It could be topical minoxidil, topical finasteride, laser or PRP . There’s nothing wrong with being conservative in the early stages and seeing if the AGA can be halted with minimal coaxing.

Before leaving the topic, let me reiterate how important criteria one actually is. If you had some major stress in January or February and telogen effluvium is actually the cause of your shedding rather than a diagnosis of androgenetic alopecia, starting finasteride would not be the right step, If you are shedding 93 hairs because your diet is poor and you have a micronutrient deficiency, starting finasteride is not the right step, However, fixing the diet or starting a vitamin in the meantime would be .

c) Is this a mimicker of telogen effluvium ?

There are many conditions that look like telogen effluvium, sound like telogen effluvium but aren’t telogen effluvium. Unfortunately, they can be tough to spot for even clinicians. Fortunately, they are not common. Alopecia areata incognito is not common but presents with shedding. Trichoscopy is needed for the diagnosis (or a biopsy). It’s usually not so perfectly symmetrical as seen with AGA but it can be of course. It responds to topical steroids and Rogaine. Lichen planopilaris and folliculitis decalvans are scarring alopecias that can mimic AGA in some cases. They generally have associated itching, burning or scalp tenderness. Some patients have all three symptoms and some have only two and some have no symptoms at all .

The other common mimicker of classic TE is seborrheic dermatitis and scalp psoriasis. These are common in the population so every hair specialist needs to know everything there is to know about scalp seborrheic dermatitis and scalp psoriasis because these are common concerns. . About 5-10 % of people have seborrheic dermatitis and 2-3 % of all people have psoriasis. In mild cases, seborrheic dermatitis and psoriasis don’t give much in the way of shedding. In moderate to severe cases, they most certainly do. These can mimic a telogen effluvium.

Conclusion

Thanks again for your great question. I hope this helped.

In summary, it’s likely your shedding is abnormal but it could be temporary. A full exam together with review of your story and completion of some key blood tests would be part of an ideal plan. Taking photos every 3 months is probably the most helpful thing you can do for yourself. If your shedding settles but density seems to be dropping off it’s likely there is some AGA present and starting one of the treatments is a good idea if your goal is to halt hair loss. If your shedding stabilizes in the next few months and density stays high, watchful waiting is probably the way to go. This later situation probably means you had some form of telogen effluvium.

Daily Shedding... with high DHEAS.... What should I be doing?

Why am I still shedding ?

I’ve selected this question below for this week’s question of the week. It allows us to discuss shedding issues in young women with high DHEAS.

QUESTION.

Dr. Donovan, I'm hoping you may be able to shed some light onto my hair shedding situation. I started experiencing increased hair shedding 6 months ago. Prior to the shedding, I'd started a birth control pill (low androgen) 2.5 months before, and Spironolactone 5.5 months before (for hirsutism). I experienced mild stress but it was nothing out of the ordinary. A month into the shedding, I began to experience tingling, crawling, and pain in my scalp. 1.5 months after the hair loss started, I went off of Spironolactone, and 2.5 months into the shedding, I went off birth control. My scalp became itchy as well.

I went to 3 dermatologists, all of whom diagnosed me with telogen effluvium. I recently had a biopsy done that stated telogen effluvium as well. I was also diagnosed with seborrheic dermatitis (which I've never had before in my life). I tried ketoconazole shampoo. I've had blood work done that stated my thyroid was normal, ferritin within normal range, (was 95 in October due to brief supplementation and then 26 in January), and I was deficient in vitamin D. My vitamin B12 level was too high, I'm not sure what that means.

I have symptoms of androgen excess (acne and excess hair growth on my face / body), dating back to my teen years (17), I'm 21 now, soon to be 22. The facial hair growth appeared in November of 2019 at age 20. I have elevated DHEAs (512), and had an ultrasound ruling out PCOS (no irregular periods, no polycystic ovaries).

Photo of the patient’s scalp.

Since the hair shedding began, I experienced massive emotional stress as a result. I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression - which I'm sure I've had for years but got extremely bad once my hair started to fall out. I am thin (weighing only 104lbs) but lost 10 pounds presumably due to stress of the hair loss. I've had two episodes of what was probably telogen effluvium in the past - one was related to low iron (ferritin of 7) back when I was 15, and one episode when I was 18 most likely due to a bad case of the flu. Those episodes only lasted 3-6 months and I grew all of my hair back.

This time, I've been consistently shedding for 6 months with no sign of improvement. My scalp is very tender, sensitive, flaky and itchy still. On an average day, I used to shed maybe 5-10 hairs, now I am shedding roughly 50-150 hairs - which is not normal for me. I'm at a loss for what could be causing this and what I can do about it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

ANSWER

Thanks for the question.

I’d like to discuss several important things in the question you ask and the information you have submitted.

Before we do go further, I’d like to point out that the ideal way to diagnose hair loss is using what I termed the ”Diagnostic S.E.T.” I refer to these as the diagnostic “set” because theses 3 aspects all go together. These 3 items include:

1) the patient’s story

2) the findings uncovered during the process of the scalp examination including trichoscopy

3) the results of relevant blood tests. 

The first letter of each of the three words 1) story, 2) examination and 3) tests spell out the word “S.E.T.” - again a helpful reminder of how the information obtained from reviewing each of these 3 aspects helps solidify a proper diagnosis.

There is lots more to your story that I need. I would want to know about other medications you have started and stopped. I would want to know about other symptoms like joint pains, headaches, fatigue, weight loss, eyebrow changes, eyelashes changes, body hair changes, nail changes, and rashes.

The 2 key questions here in your case are:

a) Is the diagnosis ONLY telogen effluvium … and …. if so what is the trigger?

b) Is this a telogen effluvium with the starting stages of androgenetic alopecia?

Let’s go further into your story.

POINT 1. Many people who take birth control pills shed for the first few months.

First, I think there’s little doubt that at least one of your diagnoses is telogen effluvium. We don’t actually need to debate that. The debate we will get into in a moment is whether anything else is going on.

You have several reasons why you could have a telogen effluvium, including starting the birth control pill and starting spironolactone. A large proportion of women shed when starting these treatments, especially birth control pills. The shedding starts 2-3 months after taking the first pill and the shedding lasts 3-6 months provided the pill is continued every day. A lot of women shed when stopping these pills too, especially the birth control pill. The shedding starts 2-3 months after stopping the pill and the shedding lasts 3-6 months provided the pill is not restarted.

So what would I expect to hear from a 21 year old woman who starts spironolactone and then starts a birth control pill? Shedding.

And what would I expect to hear from a 21 year old woman who starts spironolactone and then starts a birth control pill and then stops these pills? Shedding.

What is your story? Shedding.

So in some ways, it’s possible this is entirely consistent with your story.

POINT 2: All patients with hair loss, acne and hirsutism and androgen excess need a proper work up. A work up should be done off birth control.

You have DHEAS 512 (which is 13.9 umol/L in SI units). Any female age 21 with DHEAS 512 and acne and hirsutism and hair loss needs a thorough endocrine work up in my opinion. We need to rule out PCOS and late onset CAH.

With the limited information you have provided here, it would be false to say that you “don’t” have PCOS.

The correct way to say it is more likely “you have a low likelihood of having PCOS.”

Women with PCOS who are thin with low BMI often have regular periods and often have no cysts visualized on ultrasound examinations … but still have elevated androgens. This is a bit more advanced type of knowledge, but I think it’s important especially since you have hyperandrogenism. Anyone who claims there is zero chance you have PCOS is wrong. Anyone who thinks there is a very low chance you have PCOS is correct. I have seen many women with your story exactly who go from being thin to being heavier in their 20s and 30s and ‘develop’ PCOS. I’m not saying that is your case, but sometimes weight gain brings about insulin resistance that then promotes a fuller PCOS clinical presentation.

So what work up do you need? Well, I would advise a proper work up on day 3-5 of your cycle for my own patients that come to see me with a story like yours. The fact that you are off birth control again is a good time to do this. We can’t do these tests when women are on birth control.

The tests that I order on day 3-5 of the cycle for my patients with similar stories are: LH, FSH, estradiol, testosterone, free testosterone, SHBG, glucose, insulin, hemoglobin 1A1c, AM cortisol, prolactin, androstenedione and 17 hydroxyprogesterone, AST, ALT, and cholesterol. These should be done fasting and day 3-5 of the cycle. You have already had your DHEAS measured so there is not a lot of good reason to do this again unless someone suspected levels could be climbing. I would probably include it again for completeness.

What am I looking for in these tests?

a) a high 17 OHP level on day 3-5 that would lead us to a diagnosis of late onset congenital adrenal hyperplasia

b) a high testosterone, high fasting insulin, high LH that would point is towards a PCOS like state

c) A normal prolactin and AM cortisol that reassures us that no other issues are present

In your case, I would want more blood tests if I was your doctor. I would want to know if there is any evidence of insulin resistance that would push me towards PCOS. I would want to know if the other hormones were normal. I would want to know your free testosterone and SHBG. I would want to know your 17 OHP levels to rule out late onset congenital adrenal hyperplasia before moving on.

POINT 3: When it comes to ultrasound examinations, there is a lot that patients don’t realize.

When I hear that a patient had an ultrasound that showed no cysts, my first response is usually that I’m glad to hear that news. But there are a few points to keep in mind. First, it depends on whether the ultrasound examination was a transabdominal ultrasound or transvaginal. There is a big difference in the quality of the studies and what it all means. Transvaginal studies with modern ultrasound techniques are the most helpful. Many people don’t have these studies done. Transvaginal studies can pick up a lot of cysts that the transabdominal can not. Of course, it’s very unlikely this is even an issue with your story but it’s something that we need to keep in mind.

With your ultrasound, I would want to know where it was done (what center? what clinic?) and whether it was transabdominal or transvaginal? What was the volume of the ovaries noted in the report ? Were any ovary measurements more than 10 mL ?

POINT 4: In the early stages of hair loss, TE and AGA can look the same and have the same story. Rarely, they can have a similar biopsy too.

When I look at your photos, I immediately say to myself :

Could this person have AGA?

Could this person have TE?

Could this person have both conditions?

(Also …. whenever we use the word TE, we need to immediate shout out hey could this be diffuse alopecia areata …. but I don’t think that’s what this is. But I include this for completeness of this write up).

In the early stages TE and AGA look the same. Of course, an up close examination with use of trichoscopy is going to help in your situation. In fact, it’s critical this be done! If the back of the scalp is convincingly thicker than the front of the scalp, I am pushed more towards thinking this could be AGA (with your TE). If the back and front areas are similar density, we are more likely thinking about a sole diagnosis of isolate TE. If there is no evidence of “follicular miniaturization” or variation in the caliber of your hairs when your scalp is examined with trichoscopy, we are likely dealing with an isolated TE. If there is a convincing variation in the caliber of hairs, it could be an early AGA.

Biopsies can be tricky. There is so much more to doing a biopsy than just doing it and so much more to interpreting a biopsy than just reading the information that comes printed on report. My ability to accurately interpret a biopsy depends where on the scalp it was taken from!. It depends how it was processed (horizontal vs vertical section). It depends who read the biopsy (dermpath vs general path). If a biopsy was taken from the sides or the back or somewhere just to prevent the patient from having a visible scar, then the biopsy is often useless. Biopsies in your case need to come from the top.

Here is where I would need your biopsy to have been taken from for me to feel better about the situation:

Also, if someone is going to tell me all you have in your biopsy is a telogen effluvium, I’m going to hope that horizontal sections were used. It’s a huge stretch to diagnose a telogen effluvium confidently from vertical sections. In horizontal sections, the pathologist gets to see 20-40 hairs in order to give their best guess about what could be going on with the rest of the scalp. With vertical sectioned biopsies, they just get to see 3-6 hairs. I don’t want to leave my patient’s hair loss diagnosis to interpretations as to what is seen with 3-6 hairs.

POINT 5: TE and seborrheic dermatitis (and sometimes even AGA) give tingling and symptoms.

With the biopsy result you have in your possession, I’m much much less worried about the tingling, crawling and pain. Of course, I wish you did not have it. But I’m not suspecting anything inflammatory that would make me want to act with a much different course. This is assuming your biopsy came from an area that was tender) I’m always worried when a patient says they have scalp pain. But this worry evaporates to a large degree when the biopsy from that area shows non-scarring alopecia. If your biopsy was from a random area and not from a tender area, then it becomes more difficult to interpret what it means.

Pain and tingling in your case can come from seborrheic dermatitis. it can come from TE, It can come from depression. It can come from allergy or irritation from a current shampoo. it can come from irritation of allergy from other cosmetics.

We still need to keep an eye on this pain. I often encourage my patients to commit to treating their seborrheic dermatitis with a rotating schedule of shampoos. Zinc pyrithione one day. Ketoconazole the next regular shampooing day and selenium sulphide shampoo the next shampooing day. Shampooing must be done 2-3 times per week and left on 2 minutes. I advise my patients to not over do the time as this often just dries the hair and scalp out further. Also, putting a prescription topical steroid on the scalp like betamethasone valerate lotion 0.1 % aa few times per week right after showering is often helpful (of before bed). 10 drops to 15 drops of betamethasone valerate lotion two times per week for a few months is very safe and anyone who says otherwise has little understanding, knowledge or training in the area.

If the pain is still present in 3-5 months, this needs to be looked into further.

POINT 6: What to do next depends on the blood test results and your prior response to spironolactone.

What exactly to do next and how do help your shedding depends partly on your next set of blood test results. If you have elevated 17 OHP on your blood tests, you may want to see an endocrinologist. If you have high LH or evidence of insulin resistance you’ll want to see a really experienced endocrinologist for evaluation of PCOS. Not all women with PCOS are overweight and in fact, women with PCOS who are thinner or have low body mass index often have regular periods and no cysts on ultrasound.

If you tolerated spironolactone well (in the past) and tolerated birth control well, it may even be an option to return to these and stay on these. Did it control your acne? Did it stop hirsutism? Did you feel good on it? Anyone starting these medications has a chance to get shedding so I’m not necessarily worried by a story of shedding. You stopped too soon to really get any sense what the long term outcome was. If there is any evidence of AGA with an up close examination, this could be a good option again. If not, you might want to treat your acne and hirsutism differently - perhaps topically.. The other option is to wait longer in hopes the TE resolves. Continuing iron and vitamin D and shampooing your hair diligently with these anti dandruff shampoos is going to be important no matter what is going on up on the scalp.

Finally, with any TE, we need to always keep in mind that maybe we have not found the trigger. If your ferritin was low and your hemoglobin was low (less than 12.0), a work up could be important. I often test for example a celiac panel in patients with BOTH low HGB and low ferritin. I’m not worried about your high B12. I would want to know about other medications you have started and stopped. As mentioned above, I would want to know about other symptoms like joint pains, headaches, fatigue, weight loss, eyebrow changes, eyelashes changes, body hair changes, nail changes, and rashes. Sometimes we consider ordering autoimmune tests in women with shedding but only if the history points us to ordering these. Ordering these tests ‘just to cover all bases’ is usually not a good idea.

Summary

I can instantly tell by your question that you’ve read a lot and thought a lot about your issues and what all this information means. Congratulations for that. That is important. You need to figure out if late onset CAH is a possibility or not ….. and whether insulin resistance/PCOS its truly off the list or not. In my opinion, these blood tests on day 3-5 are important to you. I’m glad you are off the birth control pill now because it allows you to get these tests done.

If your biopsy was taken from the area I have noted above, then that’s probably very helpful provided it was analyzed in the lab with horizontal sections. . The key point now is figuring out if there is any possibility of an evolving androgenetic alopecia that just could not be picked up in the early stages with the work up you had. A biopsy with horizontal sections and a good trichoscopic examination by a specialist who understands hair loss will uncover these answers.

Regardless, photos should be taken every 3 months. Not every day and not every week. If there is any kind of evolving pattern of hair loss, a photos will also capture these changes over time.

If TE is truly what you have and there are no underlying concerns, doing minimal additional things could be the best plan. However, if your hyperandrogenism is part of a bigger endocrine issue (like PCOS or CAH), getting advice from an endocrinologist would be a good way to proceed. These blood tests will be a really important guide. Some women just have elevated DHEAS and some women with elevated DHEAS develop AGA but some don’t. I never recommend patients start treatment because of what the labs say - treatment is started because of what the skin or hair is doing.

Thanks again for sending in the question. I hope this helps you are your team of specialists.

Excessive Shedding in the 30's: Why is my hair still shedding?

Excessive hair shedding in the early 30s: What are the reasons?

I’ve selected this question below for this week’s question of the week. It allows us to discuss diagnosis of hair loss in women 30-40 years of age with chronic shedding. Here is the question….

QUESTION

Can oral vitamin + iron supplementation increase shedding the way minoxidil does?

I am a 35 years old female. I have always been under a lot of stress, especially in 2016-2017. In spring 2018 I noticed my hair got thinner (I always had rather fine hair); my scalp could be seen under direct light. I used castor oil and took spiruline tablets hoping it would improve; got the impression it did so I stopped. I was vegetarian then, too. I got preoccupied with the fear of getting bald, did a lot of research on the Internet that frightenend me even more and finally I got the courage to get an appointment with a dermatologist this summer (2020). She didn't notice hair loss (pull test); said my density was normal and scalp looked ok. She said it didn't look like AGA at all. She prescribed my iron supplementation (low ferritin (24)) and advised me to change my diet. I lack vitamin B12 too. From the end of July onwards I've been taking iron, spiruline, biotin and B12 supplementation. Since I didn't agree with the diagnosis ("no visible hair loss") I began counting the hair I'm shedding each day. The amount is horrible: it's more than 200 hair/day! The supplementation I'm taking and the changes I made to my diet don't seem to decrease the shedding at all. I've booked a appointment with anonther dermatologist for a second opinion (I'm truly terrified: my scalp feels strange; a bit of itching and burning + "crawling" sensations; my hair keeps falling out and for my dermatologist there's no problem...!) I'm surprised I still have hair left on my scalp when I see the amount that's falling every day... 
I have read that those who use Minoxidil experience shedding in the first months which is a sign that new hair is on the way (I do see regrowth but it doesn't make my hair volume look any better). So I am wondering: can oral supplementation cause a similar shedding, which proves that the treatment is working? If not, what should I do? I got no "real" dagnosis; from what I read on the internet it seems to look like TE but how can I be sure?

I would like to add that from time to time I have small pimples on my scalp that come and go. Not a lot of them though, but they can be itchy. My skin (on face) is oily, I have the same sort of sores on my face from time to time too. I don't know if this information is important.

Thank you for reading and I hope you'll be able to answer my question since my own dermatologist doesn't seem to take my problem seriously...I think the thinning is all over, but mostly noticable on the top of my scalp and at the temples. My hair become very flat, no volume at all. I wash it daily because it greases very fast (eversince I was in my early teens).

ANSWER

Thanks for the question. There’s really two very good ways to determine the cause of your hair loss - and that is to share your story with a hair specialist and have him or her

1) Evaluate your scalp up close with “trichsocopy” (magnified imaging)

or

2) Perform a 4 mm scalp biopsy

So there is a way for you to get your answer.

I’d like to discuss several important things in the question you ask and the information you have submitted. Let’s get to it.

Before we do go further, I’d like to point out that the ideal way to diagnose hair loss is using what I termed the ”Diagnostic S.E.T.” I refer to these as the diagnostic “set” because theses 3 aspects all go together. These 3 items include:

1) the patient’s story

2) the findings uncovered during the process of the scalp examination including trichoscopy

3) the results of relevant blood tests. 

The first letter of each of the three words 1) story, 2) examination and 3) tests spell out the word “S.E.T.” - again a helpful reminder of how the information obtained from reviewing each of these 3 aspects helps solidify a proper diagnosis.

AGA must be the Default Diagnosis in Women 30-40 with Increased Hair Shedding

I would need to examine your scalp to determine if you have androgenetic alopecia or telogen effluvium or both …. or some other diagnosis.

However, I strongly believe that the first diagnosis that must be ruled in or ruled out in any female patient with hair loss in the 30s is androgenetic alopecia. One must not move on until this issue has been fully settled. Once that it settled one can determine if the patient has or does not have telogen effluvium (with AGA or by itself ) and whether or not the patient has some other hair loss condition.

How does AGA present or ‘announce itself in women’? With shedding ! .. and with thinning in the top or often also diffusely!

How does telogen effluvium TE present itself or announce itself? With shedding ! …and with thinning diffusely !

It’s important to be aware that TE and AGA can look identical - at least at first glance.

What’s the most likely cause of hair loss in a 30-35 year old female with hair loss for 3 years and shedding and thinning? Androgenetic alopecia by far.

Of course, I can’t say what you have as I have not examined your scalp. But these are the principles that guide the entire discussion.

Therefore, the key question that must be asked in your story is “Does this patient have androgenetic alopecia (AGA)?” That’s the key question. That’s the number one question. The key question should not be what supplement can this patient take? ….. or what shampoo should this patient use? The key question is “does this patient have androgenetic alopecia?”

What is needed now is proof that you do have AGA or proof that you don’t have AGA. One should not rest until this question has been solved. Once we solve that question, we can move on to figuring out if any other diagnosis is present.

For now, we need to determine if AGA is present. That is what is needed now. Your doctors might be able to solve this with trichoscopy or they might need to solve it with a biopsy.

We can not always solve it with simply looking at the scalp from afar.

Only you know what your hair looked like before and your doctors do not. If you hair looks thinner to you but just fine to another person - then guess what? You still have hair loss.

The Three Stages of Hair Loss

There are 3 stages of hair loss that I describe for patient’s with androgenetic alopecia. What is so important in your case is to determine once and for all as to whether you are in stage 2 AGA or whether you don’t even have AGA at all. Here are the stages.

Stage 1 of Androgenetic Alopecia

In stage 1, hair density is slowly reducing but the patient is unaware. There may be a slight increase in hair being shed in the shower or coming out daily in the brush. However, this generally goes by unnoticed by the patient. A biopsy can sometimes (but not always) capture a T:V ratio below 4:1 and some degree of miniaturization (and anisotrichosis) may be present. Much of the time it's challenging to confidently diagnose AGA in this stage. Some stay in stage 1 for a very long time; others just a matter of months.

Stage 2 of Androgenetic Alopecia

In stage 2, the patient first becomes aware that something is not quite right. They may see a bit more scalp showing when they look in the mirror. They may feel the hair does not feels as thick when they run their fingers through the hair. Under bright lights they may feel a bit more aware of these changes. When the hair is wet, the thinning is evident.

Nevertheless, in this second stage everyone else tells the patient they look fine. Some patients are told they are "crazy". Even some physicians will tell the patient they "look fine" and need not worry. Patients often feel isolated in this stage because nobody believes them when they say they are losing hair! A biopsy definitely shows a T:V ratio less than 4:1 and miniaturization is clearly seen in more than 20 % of hairs. Many never progress to stage 3 especially those with onset of AGA later in life.

Stage 3 of Androgenetic Alopecia

In stage 3, the hair loss has progressed to a stage where hair loss may become evident not only to the patient but also to others. Of course with use of various hairstyles, products, camouflaging agents it may still be possible to hide one's hair loss from others. As stage 3 progresses it becomes more and more difficult to hide hair loss.

Understanding the Patterns of Hair Loss

Both AGA and TE can cause hair to look thinner. With AGA is typically affects the middle of the scalp whereas with TE is affects all of the scalp fairly equally. We call this a ‘diffuse’ pattern. AGA can sometimes have a diffuse pattern too but very often than not it affects the middle more than other areas. In addition, AGA often affects some areas of the middle a bit more than others.

Your photos show the hair parted in the middle. These types of photos are great for evaluating the scalp. If your part width at the back of the scalp seems smaller than the front of the scalp, the chances start to increase that you might have AGA. By part width, we simply mean the amount of scalp showing when you part your hair in the middle.

In your photos, it’s difficult to get a sense of the exact patterns because I only have photos of the middle. But when I look at these photos I do wonder whether the density towards the crown is a bit less than the density up front. In other words, it seems that even in the mid scalp the density is not reduced equally.

Summary: Putting it All Together

Thanks again for the question. Let’s review everything again.

1. You first asked if oral vitamins can increase shedding like minoxidil does. That answer is not usually. The mechanism is different.

2. You have high shedding rates so something is probably different with your hair cycles than it was 20 years ago.. One can shed 200 hairs daily in AGA and 200 hairs daily in TE so this information is not helpful to actually get to the diagnosis. You could have one, You could have both. You might have neither. Statistically speaking, a 30-35 year old female with shedding has either AGA or TE and with your history AGA is far more likely to be a diagnosis. Of course, we are not statistics and each person requires a proper examination.

3. You mention increased oiliness of the face so one needs to also consider whether you have a component of “seborrheic dermatitis”. This can increase these scalp sensations like you describe - and so can telogen effluvium. Your doctors can determine if you have SD by carefully examining your scalp.

4. Overall, it may be that you’ve had TE at some point in time - and perhaps you also have it now too. It may be that stress was a trigger before for a TE and perhaps maybe now you have different triggers that are causing a TE (such as lower iron). I suspect there was some component of TE back in 2016-2017 when your hair shedding stopped. Your doctors can evaluate these ‘triggers’ for shedding in greater detail. You may or may not need more blood tests but your doctors can review that in detail.

A full work up is needed at this point. You may need more blood tests. However, what you do need next is a thorough scalp examination with trichoscopy. If there is significant “anisotichosis” on trichoscopy then you may have AGA. I can’t tell these with your photos - it needs an up close examination. If it’s still difficult for your doctors to determine with trichsosopy, then a scalp biopsy (with use of horizontal sections) is going to be helpful. The pathologist can determine the number of large terminal hairs and tiny vellus hairs and the number of telogen hairs. A terminal to vellus hair ratio of less than 4:1 usually signals a diagnosis of AGA in women. You can review more about scalp biopsies here Scalp Biopsy Interpretation

I hope this helps and thank you again for the question.

What's the reason for my hair loss? What does my trichoscopy show?

Why am I experiencing hair loss?

I’ve selected this question below for this week’s question of the week. It allows us to discuss some of the finer aspects of interpreting trichoscopy and how the clinical history must be interpreted together with all trichoscopic analyses.

Here is the question….

QUESTION

I really hope you can help me with the diagnosis of my hair loss that I've been experiencing for a year now without being able to get a real diagnosis, doctors can't seem to find anything else than '' light dermatitis'', yet I can' t help but notice everyday that this isn't normal and I have no clue so far. 
About a year ago I suddenly noticed that I had way less hair and I could see my scalp, which never happened before. A few weeks later I've started to notice redness in my scalp and itching that never left ever since. The itching seems to come and go without any logical pattern, and the more red and itching my scalp gets, the more hair I seem to lose. I did a trichoscopy 2 weeks ago, where you can see the results.

I'm quite desperate to get a real diagnosis because I don't think something innocuous would last that long and cause hair loss without stopping. Overall I am in good health. Blood tests were all okay 

ANSWER

This is a great question because it allows us to talk about so many things.

Before we go further, I’d like to point out that the ideal way to diagnose hair loss is using what I termed the ”Diagnostic S.E.T.” I refer to these as the diagnostic “set” because theses 3 aspects all go together. These 3 items include:

1) the patient’s Story

2) the findings uncovered during the process of the scalp examination and

3) the results of relevant blood tests. 

The first letter of each of the three words 1) story, 2) examination and 3) tests spell out the word “S.E.T.” - again a helpful reminder of how the information obtained from reviewing each of these 3 aspects helps solidify a proper diagnosis.

I’d like to know a lot more about this story ideally but of course the magic of the “question of the week” is that I tackle questions with limited information.

I can’t be sure of what’s going on entirely without seeing your scalp up close myself and knowing your entire story. Your age, and details about your scalp symptoms all matter.

In my opinion there are 4 possibilities for what you have:

1. Androgenetic alopecia with seborrheic dermatitis (AGA + SD)

2. Androgenetic alopecia with mild telogen effluvium with seborrheic dermatitis (AGA + TE+ SD)

3. Mild telogen effluvium with seborrheic dermatitis (TE + SD)

4. Seborrheic dermatitis alone (SD alone)

I’d like to make a few comments about the type of thinking that is needed in case like this.

A few comments

1. It’s true that you have very nice trichoscopy pictures - but what’s also important is just getting a sense if the frontal density is truly the same as the back. There certainly is a suggestion that your frontal density may be less than the back (occipital area) despite all the numbers that you see in your measurements. If there truly is a significant difference in the density in the frontal and back then we need to think about a patterned hair loss (ie androgenetic alopecia).

2. A physician can get a better sense of density by parting the hair down the middle from front to back and comparing the part width in the front to the back. If the part width is wider in the front than the back that means there may be more hair loss in the front compared to the back - and this might be a suggestion that there is some degree of androgenetic alopecia.

3. It does seem that your blood tests have been normal so we’ll assume that. This does not mean that a person can not have telogen effluvium or androgenetic alopecia with normal blood tests. In fact, most people with hair loss have normal blood tests. I have not seen your blood tests of course, but I would hope that you have had CBC, TSH, ferritin, 25 hydroxyvitamin D. If your periods are irregular you should have a hormonal panel. If you have other symptoms, you might need other testing too.

4. There appears to be clear differences with the photos in the frontal areas compared to the occipital (back) areas including more single hairs and less density. While this could be simply suggesting diffuse loss as in a telogen effluvium, we need to consider the possibility that this could represent a pattern to the loss (and female pattern alopecia also called androgenetic alopecia).

5. Your average hair caliber seems to be lower than expected at 60 um. This depends on your background and your type of hair but it certainly does make me wonder if there is some change happening that affect caliber especially a diffuse process like a diffuse AGA. Of course, androgenetic alopecia is one of the more common hair loss conditions that affect caliber. Your data from the trichoscopy is not definite so I can’t completely rule in or rule out this particular diagnosis.

6. If you do not have much in the way of increased shedding, I would favour a diagnosis of AGA. If there is a lot of shedding that you have, it still could be AGA but a mild effluvium (TE) certainly does not need to be considered. Your story of suddenly “noticing” that you have less hair is more typical of AGA than TE. The degree that you are shedding today and the degree that you have been shedding in the past 6-9 months would sway me someone as far as how likely a diagnosis of TE really is.

7. I do favour options 1 and 2 but it’s by no means definite based on the information you have given. It will be helpful to follow the trichsocopy measurements over time. If you have a TE like in option 3, the measurements and numbers will likely get better over time. If it’s an AGA (option 1 and 2), the numbers will not likely improve and may get slightly worse in 6-12 months. Photos will also be very helpful. If it does become clear that the density in the frontal areas is slightly less than the back of the scalp, one needs to consider androgenetic alopecia.

8. If you are concerned a scalp biopsy or a 5 day modified hair wash test might help. Sometimes in the very early stages a a biopsy only slightly helpful so I am not of the opinion that you must have a biopsy. However, if the terminal to vellus ratio of your biopsy is shown to be less than 4:1 it indicates androgenetic alopecia is likely to be present. If the terminal to vellus ratio is above 4:1 is suggests that TE alone (option 3 or 4) is more likely. A biopsy can also capture any rare mimickers of redness such as lichen planopilaris, although I do not suspect that is what is going on (the density and changes are far too similar in the 3 areas to really support early LPP - and the story I have so far and the trichoscopy does not really support that diagnosis). A modified hair wash test can give a sense of how many hairs are being shed and whether any of these are small. What’s interesting in your photos is that it does appear that there are more vellus hairs in the photos from the frontal area than the measurements state in the information you were given. I am personally a big believer not only in looking at the measurements these computers give but also in looking at the images myself and looking at the scalp myself and getting sense if the measurements the computer gives makes sense or not. The presence of thinner and thinner hairs (miniaturized hairs) and the presence of thinner and shorter hairs (vellus hairs) is what androgenetic alopecia is all about.

9. I do think that there is likely a component of seborrheic dermatitis complicating the picture here. Your dermatologist can review with you at your next appointment. The trichoscopy would suggest this as well. SD is not typically a major cause of hair loss but can give a bit of shedding if severe enough. If you do have SD, it is mild and may contribute to symptoms like itching and tingling from time to time and then there will be periods where the scalp feels good again. The involvement of the temples is quite typical of SD and your photos are noticeably most red in the temples. There are no signs of scarring alopecia in the trichoscopy images provided but again a biopsy can help further clarify.

FINAL SUMMARY

Thanks for the great question. With the information provided, I can’t say one way or another exactly what is the diagnosis. However, a scalp biopsy or 5 day modified hair wash test could take you that much closer to understanding the diagnosis if there is really debate. I am suspicious about their being androgenetic alopecia here but I can’t tell for sure and ideally would want to see the scalp in a situation like this. Once you have the proper diagnosis, you can plan treatment. In addition, it is going to become much clearer over time what the diagnosis is especially if you do repeat trichoscopy measurements in 6 and 12 months. The frontal density and caliber of the hair in the frontal area will decrease and the number of single hairs is going to increase in the frontal if AGA is truly what is present. For now, treating the seborrheic dermatitis is quite reasonable. I would normally recommend that efforts be put into confirming the diagnosis with certainty. Some of the treatments for TE overlap with AGA treatments including laser and topical minoxidil and oral minoxidil so one can certainly get started with a plan once the diagnosis is made. Certain other treatments however, like anti androgens, are only effective in AGA and will not be effective if TE is the true diagnosis.

Thank you for your question.

Frontal Hairine Loss in a 48 Year old Black Female

Question.

I'm a black female 48 years old with what I believe is CCCA. I started loosing my hairline in 2014, however in an 18 month period I lost my entire hairline. For the last 14 months I've been treating my scalp with natural oils/home remedies. The hair loss have stopped. I think my condition could be inactive. If the e disease is in fact inactive, without any medical treatment, can my hair grow back on its own or will I need a hair transplant?

Answer

Thanks for the great question. As a physician who sees a lot of women with CCCA, your brief story shouts out to me one main message: this may or may not be CCCA that you have and if it is CCCA, one or more other hair loss conditions might be present too.

Let me begin. Central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA) usually starts in the middle of the scalp or in the crown. CCCA does not usually start in the front like you described. However several conditions can affect the frontal hairline just like you described including traction alopecia, cicatricial marginal alopecia and frontal fibrosing alopecia. What’s a bit unexpected from your story is the complete loss of the hairline that you described. That certainly favours a diagnosis of frontal fibrosing alopecia over traction alopecia but of course I would need to see your scalp myself to answer that. An entity called cicatricial marginal alopecia is also on the list.

Your story is not a typical story of CCCA although of course you could have CCCA back in the mid-scalp too. Many black women with hair loss in the frontal hairline also have some degree of CCCA too.

What you really need now is a diagnosis. An expert dermatologist who treats a lot of patients with hair loss might be able to make the diagnosis without a biopsy but if you are thinking of hair transplants down the road a biopsy is going to be helpful to secure the diagnosis and also determine for you (and your doctors) just how active or inactive the disease truly is right now. My advice to anyone with a story like yours would be to consider a sample from the frontal hairline area and also from the crown. Remember that a biopsy always needs to have a hair in it so don’t biopsy any bare area as that is useless.

I’m suspicious about your diagnosis of CCCA but a few things about your story are more definite. First, it’s unlikely you’ll get spontaneous growth if you haven’t had growth since 2014. Depending on the exact and precise diagnosis, you still could get a bit of regrowth with treatment but likely only a bit. Second, you are probably not a candidate for surgery yet. Whether you become a candidate depends somewhat in the diagnosis but also on the activity level of your primary disease. I like to have patients take photos once they feel their disease is quiet... and if there is absolutely no change in hair loss after two years of photography then a hair transplant might be possible. If you feel your scalp has now become quiet, take a picture today and plan to compare that same picture in 2 years. If the two pictures look 100 % identical you might be a candidate for surgery. The longer answer as to whether you are a candidate for surgery actually depends on several factors.

In summary, your story suggests a diagnosis of frontal fibrosing alopecia or traction alopecia much more than it does CCCA. A biopsy could be extremely important for you and your treating physicians right now.

Minoxidil Itching: What are the important considerations and actions?

Question:

Is it possible that patients using minoxidil get itching because of the minoxidil and that this itching in turn causes more hair loss. I have tried both foam as well as liquid form, but still get itching. Can you tell me a prescription for minoxidil compounded in glycerin, water and ethanol.

Do you have any suggestions?

Answer

Thanks for the excellent question. Itching is often experienced by users of minoxidil. An accurate diagnosis of the precise cause of the itching is important for anyone because there are actually many causes of itching in minoxidil users. The top three considerations for you and your physicians to sort out are 1) Is minoxidil worsening an underlying seborrheic dermatitis? 2) Am I allergic or irritated by minoxidil? 3) Do I actually have another itching diagnosis that has been missed?

1) Is minoxidil worsening an underlying seborrheic dermatitis?

We’ll begin by talking about seborrheic dermatitis. This is a common condition and minoxidil can make it worse for some users. For patients with itching associated with minoxidil use, one needs a full review by their physician. I often advise patients to shampoo daily and add a few anti-dandruff shampoos to their routines. Ketconazole shampoo on Monday, Zinc pyrithione shampoo Tuesday and selenium sulphide Wednesday and then repeat. These should be applied for 60 seconds each application. Often the itching improves dramatically with these shampoos.

2) Am I allergic or irritated by minoxidil?

If there is a concern about allergy, I advise patients to apply the minoxidil twice daily to the inner forearm for 1-2 weeks and observe if an irritation or true allergy develops. This is called a “repeat open application test” (ROAT). Photos should be take daily and shown to a physician. A dermatologist can guide if a true allergic contact dermatitis has developed. Some patients are allergic or highly irritated by the ingredients in the formulation (such as propylene glycol in the liquid form) but some a truly allergic to minoxidil. A dermatologist can perform a standard patch test if doubt still exists after the patient performs and analyzes the ROAT.

It irritation to propylene glycol is suspected, minoxidil can be made up (compounded) in 20 % glycerin, 20 % water and 60 % ethanol. The fact that the patient in this question is still itchy with the PG free “foam” formulation makes it less likely the glycerin compounded formulation is actually going to help. As an alternative 2 % minoxidil can be used as it often has less PG.

3) Do I actually have another itching diagnosis that has been missed?

In situations like this, one always needs to keep an open mind that another itching diagnosis is present too or instead. This is not a common scenario but one can imagine a patient with lichen planopilaris (LPP) who was misdiagnosed as having AGA. Minoxidil can make active LPP worse.

In summary, there are many reasons to be itchy from minoxidil. Only in more severe cases does it cause hair loss. A methodical approach often reveals the cause and best options to reduce itching. Readers may also be interested in my previous article

I’m Itchy from Minoxidil: What Should I do?

Seborrheic Dermatitis vs Lichen Planopilaris: Which do I have?

QUESTION

QUESTION:

My doctors can’t decide if I have seborrheic dermatitis or lichen planopilaris. My scalp does feel less itchy and becomes less red with anti dandruff shampoos. However, it also becomes less red and itchy with topical steroids. Overall my shedding has improved after 4 weeks of treatment. Does this information suggest one diagnosis over the other?


ANSWER:

Thanks for the great question. The short answer is that the information provided here does not actually suggest one diagnosis over another. You may have scarring alopecia and you may have seborrheic dermatitis. The key point I would like to make is that you may have both! Up to 50 % of patients with lichen planopilaris have seborrheic dermatitis too. A scalp biopsy can fully answer your question.

Let’s take a closer look at both of these conditions and we’ll see why some patients with lichen planopilaris will benefit from anti-dandruff shampoos and we’ll see why some patients with seborrheic dermatitis benefit from topical steroids (the same ones used to treat lichen planopilaris.)

SEBORRHEIC DERMATITIS
First, seborrheic dermatitis is closely related to dandruff. The exact cause is still being worked out but yeast such as Malassezia may have an important role. Patients with seborrheic dermatitis have many similar (and sometimes identical) symptoms to patients with lichen planopilaris. They have a red, itchy scalp! Seborrheic dermatitis however does not cause scarring for most people and usually only gives minor amounts of hair shedding. (Everything in medicine has exception and seborrheic dermatitis may cause scarring in some cases and may give excessive hair shedding when severe - see previous articles below).

DOES SEBORRHEIC DERMATITIS CAUSE SCARRING?

CAN SEBORRHEIC DERMATITIS TRIGGER SHEDDING?

Seborrheic dermatitis is an inflammatory condition which means there is inflammation in the scalp. Although the standard first line treatment for seborrheic dermatitis is topical anti-dandruff shampoos, treatment with anti-inflammatory agents like topical steroids can help reduce the inflammation which in turn reduces redness and itching. Many patients with seborrheic dermatitis feels better with use of both antidandruff shampoos and topical steroids. In fact, studies have shown that adding topical steroids to a patient’s seborrheic dermatitis treatment plan can greatly help.

To come back to your question for a moment, we would expect seborrheic dermatitis to improve with dandruff shampoos and topical steroids. However, fact that your scalp did improve does not rule out a scarring alopecia as we’ll see next.

LICHEN PLANOPILARIS
Lichen planopilaris is a scarring alopecia that causes patients to experience itching and sometimes burning and tenderness in the scalp. The scalp is typically red. An important difference between lichen planopilaris and seborrheic dermatitis is that lichen planopilaris always associated with scarring. Biopsies of LPP show rings of scar tissue around hair follicles in early stages (called concentric perifollicular fibrosis) and deposits of large bits of scar tissue in the scalp in advanced stages.

Topical steroids are one of many agents used to treat LPP. They help reduce redness and scaling and help the patient feel better too with less itching, burning or pain.

Seborrheic Dermatitis in Patients with LPP: Is is More Common than We Realize?

Seborrheic dermatitis is present in a very large proportion of patients with LPP. In fact, a greater proportion of patients with LPP have seborrheic dermatitis compared to people in the general population. (About 5% of people in the general population have seborrheic dermatitis compared to nearly 50% of patients with LPP). On account of seborrheic dermatitis being so common in LPP, it makes sense that many people with LPP will feel better and gain some relief with use of antidandruff shampoos! The fact that a patient with LPP reports improvement with antidandruff shampoos does not rule out a scarring alopecia. It simply means they may have seborrheic dermatitis too!

Cleveland Clinic 2016 Study of Seborrheic Dermatitis in LPP

In 2016, Berfeld’s group at the Cleveland clinic studied the incidence of seborrheic dermatitis in patients with lichen planopilaris. This study is important to understand and relevant to the above discussion. It was one of the few studies to date which really documented the increased incidence of seborrheic dermatitis in patients with LPP.

The study I am referring to was a retrospective review of 246 patients seen over the period 2004-2015. Interestingly seborrheic dermatitis (SD) was present in 46.2 % of LPP cases. In 27.4 % of cases the SD was found outside the area affected by the LPP. On average the SD was diagnosed 7.8 months prior to the LPP diagnosis. Having SD seemed to delay an actual diagnosis of LPP. Patients with both SD and LPP diagnosis (LPP-SD) received their diagnosis with significantly more delay than patients with LPP who did not have SD (ie LPP). For example, patients with LPP-SD received their diagnose in 7.6 months on average comapred to 2.3 months for LPP alone.

Whether SD actually plays a role in the scarring process as well remains to be determined. It is interesting that there was a greater prevalence of late stage scarring alopecia in ptient with LPP-SD than LPP alone (41.5 % vs 15.7%). Patients with LPP-SD had greater rates of hyperandrogenism compared to patients with LPP alone.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Thanks again for the great question. One can’t determine if you are more likely to have SD or LPP from the information provided. It would be entirely within the realm of expected for a patient with LPP to improve with topical antidandruff agents since many have seborrheic dermatitis present as well. Likewise, it would be expected that a patient with seborrheic dermatitis would improve with topical steroids because this is an inflammatory disease just like LPP.

A biopsy can help distinguish if lichen planopilaris is truly present or not.

Reference
Ratnaparkhi et al. Association of lichen planopilaris with seborrheic dermatitis l: A retrospective case-control study. Poster 3727. JAAD May 2016.


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